Here we are, burning up our planet until it is a wasteland fit only for Denzel Washington.

Yet the minute we discover that there might exist another place out there whose average temperature is 72 degrees, we get all excited that it's "another Earth."

We don't even say "another San Diego," which seems more approximate to that average temperature than, say, New Jersey. No, we're excited because there might be more people like us out there. Or, perhaps, because there might be somewhere to which we can escape when we finally blow up … Read more

There are very few people in the world who have never shoplifted something.

No, I don't have statistics. But I do have a sense of humanity's essential imperfection. So, as Christmas approaches, it might be as well to wonder just what items might be the angels atop the shoplifting Christmas tree.

You might imagine it would be the iPhone 4S. For who could not wish to find Siri lurking in their Christmas stocking?

It seems though, that the iPhone and gadgets in general are merely in fourth place when it comes to being the apple of the shoplifters … Read more

There are several indications that the paranormal is upon us.

I am not specifically referring to any gray-haired politician or resident of New Jersey when I say this. It's just that too many odd things are happening for all to be regarded as usual.

Please imagine, for example, how the workers at Michael's Wholesale Furniture Distributors in Plymouth, Mass., must have felt yesterday when a 6-inch chunk of metal crashed through their roof.

The way CBS in Boston describes it, this piece of metal was around 6 inches long and weighed between 3 and 5 pounds.

What might … Read more

There's a certain entertainment to be had from an inquiry currently being held in the U.K. to examine the prevalence of phone hacking by journalists at the News of the World.

The latest evidence presented today by Paul McMullan, a former reporter for the paper, offered that phone hacking was a perfectly normal activity for a newspaper that was read by 5 million adults every Sunday.

The Telegraph reports that McMullan told the inquiry that it was Piers Morgan, currently a rather charming presence on CNN, who "set the trend" for an ethos in which the … Read more

It seems that the Cleveland mall operator who last week declared it was tracking mall shoppers in California and Virginia via their cell phones has had a change of, perhaps, heart.

CNN reports that Forest City Commercial Management might have been encouraged to change its mind, heart, and attitude by a phone call from the office of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

The phone call might have directly relayed the substance of a press conference the senator gave on Sunday.

In it, he suggested that perhaps a more polite way to go about these things was to ask shoppers if they'… Read more

The finest of electronic items do occasionally malfunction.

Sometimes planes unaccountably drop out of the sky. And sometimes, when a plane comes in for a safe landing, an iPhone might just begin to turn a strange hue of red and release dense smoke.

This, according to Australian airline Regional Express, is precisely what happened Friday on a flight between Lismore and Sydney.

The airline said that the plane was coming into land when the iPhone pyrotechnics began.

The flight crew apparently took swift action, bathing the phone in soft hand lotion. No, actually, all the airline said was that the … Read more

Sometimes people ask me to look at frightfully exciting things.

These normally come via the incomprehensible medium of the press release. However, sometimes I get sent things (in this case, via an e-mail from my louche engineer friend George) describing a new invention that seems positively useful and even vaguely comprehensible.

This thing is called the SkyLight. It allows you to take your iPhone, Android phone, or any other that might still exist and turn it into a microscopic eyepiece for the world.

Its creator is medical designer Andy Miller. He has already designed the Global Focus microscope, a light, cheap fluorescent microscope for developing countries. … Read more

I've never been tempted to fight the hordes on Black Friday, for I feel sure the hordes would win.

Yet the stories you hear about Black Friday craziness can never match up to the actual footage. So I am grateful to Mashable for discovering this piece of footage from a Wal-Mart in Mesquite, Texas.

These supposedly sane human beings are fighting, clawing, crawling over each other in order to get hold of what seem to be DVDs and video games.

The boxes at which they are grabbing like lions tearing at a deer carcass say "$10 while supplies … Read more

Some say that the competitive spirit in America had died.

Those people are surely turning a blind eye to the places where Americans are showing that winning still is truly everything.

Last night, for example, at the Wal-Mart in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles, there were reportedly many shoppers ready to vie for the finest electronic bargains.

The way the Los Angeles Times disseminates it, one lady shopper showed that she would not be defeated under any circumstances. She allegedly got out her pepper spray and showed the rest of those wusses who was Queen of the Electronic … Read more